Passages : 1987 RISD Thesis Project

May 1987. Silkscreen, Accordion bound, handmade book. 12' W x 14"H x 11"D. (NFS) This piece is available for Exhibits/ Associated Educational and Cultural Lectures.

I have been sharing the concepts and creation of this piece for the past 15 years. Most recently, in March at Mango Mic in Berkeley, CA (2003) and at the University of Nebraska in Nov. 2002. If you would like to discuss creating some arts/cultural programming utilizing this piece, please contact me directly at: kavita@urbanpeacock.com for further details. Thank you.

© 1987 Kavita Bali - ' Passages '

Here, a broad cultural survey is represented in this thesis construction "Passages" in which Kavita explores the symbolic personal worlds of women through the stages of life from contrasting Eastern and Western perspectives. Each double page spread represents a specific stage of life.

As the relationship between inner and outer worlds shift, so do the range of available options and opportunities. The sharp deliniation's on the Eastern panels are not necessarily to be taken as a negative statement, just as the eventual removal of boundaries and barriers on the Western panels, while ostensibly liberating, at the same time suffers for the want of that same clear delineation between personal and societal roles.

This piece summarizes an interpretation of the stages of life as seen through an Indian-American girl growing up in a world with pockets of exposure to her cultural identity. Here Kavita seeks out through visual montage the essence of her view of two worlds. The end message is that there is no such thing as positive or negative when viewing East and West, it is rather the individual choices a woman makes in her life that set her destiny.

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	2 hours before a flight heading back to Silicon Valley, Kavita took time to spontaneously display and explain her art on the steps of Architecture Hall at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln to some curious students passing by. It was the last of a 10 day lecture series, part of the Artist Diversity Residency in Nov. 2002, and she was just heading back to her place to pack. After she finished up with a photo shoot, one curious student asked her about her art, then a few more, and before she knew it, she had only 20 minutes to pack and head to the airport.
	Photo: © 2002 Kelly Benson/DN

Peacock Facts:

This piece was created prior to the existence of Adobe Photoshop software.

The visual montages were created using a xerox machine, stat camera, family photos, spray mount, permanent markers and hand painted with guache. Once the montages were complete, photographic silkscreens were made. each panel represents 3 pulls of image and color. The aim was to realize the images of my imagination through whatever means possible. Now computer programs such as Adobe Photoshop make such montages far simpler and faster. This piece took over 5 months to research and create.

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Photos: © 2003 Mike Price